I'm going to make my own dehumidifier!

When was the last time you cleaned the filter of your air conditionned? The filter gets cover with dust from the room over time. You will see it when you remove the front cover of the box, if it is mounted in your window.

I have central air with a big unit in the basement and one sitting outside the house. I change the filter once a month and there never seems to be much on the filter, it's pretty particle-free in here I guess. There is some moisture in the bottom of the bucket but nothing like what I expected because it feels so humid in here.

Then mine isn't doing a very good job. I can see the dripping from the pipe into the drain in the basement but it's humid in here. I have to turn it way down on a humid day like today to be comfortable. When it is dry, I can crank it up higher and feel comfortable. I'll try it anyway, I have everything I need and I just washed out the bucket and am letting it dry--had salt already in the garage. Since it's a free experiment, I'll see if it makes any difference.

Yay!! I have some in my garage and I have a bucket and a colander. I'll rig it up in a few minutes and see if it makes any difference, thanks!

probably have to hang it in front of or behind a fan

I plan on putting it near the floor vent where the air comes out. It's a very old house so it doesn't have vents near the ceiling, which would be ideal as cold air falls down.

It's not very attractive but you could dress it up by decorating the plastic bucket. Try it for a few days--you can use leftover salt from winter and a plastic pail and plastic colander from the dollar store. It might end up saving you a lot of money and at such a cheap price you could put one in every room. I'll be using the salt water to pour on some weeds I never seem to be able to get rid of so that's double duty!

I'm so glad you found this useful! I had left a bucket of sidewalk salt on the porch last winter and couldn't figure out why it had melted but now I know. Charcoal? Good idea! I plan to use the water from this stuff to pour on weeds I don't want, I'll see it that gets rid of 'em!

If you save those little packets you may find them handy for a few other things. I had a nice watch that I accidentally got wet. It got moisture behind the crystal and stopped working. I put it in a bag with two or three of those and left it for a day or two and it was like new.

Thanks, both of you, for the suggestion about the silica packs! I'll start saving them, they'll be great for little jobs. There is already some moisture in the bottom of the bucket but not much. I have central air and Aussie says it's supposed to remove moisture--it does, I can see it dripping from the pipe in the basement but it feels so humid in here!

Oh! One thing, I heard that if you keep a bowl of silica gel in your closet or under a sink, it will help to keep it drier. For years, I've saved those tiny packets of silica gel that some with new shoes, purses and other things I've ordered. Once they've absorbed all the moisture they're going to, you can put them in the oven for 15 minutes or so and dry them out, then reuse the silica gel over and over. I found a flower drying kit at Goodwill once and scooped it up. I used to dry flowers with silica gel way back when and, when I saw this kit, unused by the way, I had to have it to get back into drying flowers but now I just may try that in the garage to see if it helps along with the rock salt thing.